Valentine declarations
by Misura
Summary: Joey decides to confess his love to Kaiba. Mokuba decides Seto should confess to Joey. And Seto ...? [SetoJoey]
1. Beginning

Valentine declarations

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, slightly weird, slight fluff, slight hints at Yami/Yugi and Bakura/Ryou.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 14th november 2003, by Misura

**********

"Kaiba, you may be a bit of a bastard, but I still have this strange wish for you to kiss me. And since today's Valentine and we only live once, I was wondering if maybe you'd oblige me," Joey sincerely told his bathroom-mirror, which obliged by making him look quite handsome, even if he did say so himself.

He sighed, hoping it would be enough. Writing declarations of love wasn't something he considered himself to be very talented at. In fact, this was his first attempt at one. Still, Kaiba probably hadn't received that many either, considering the way he tended to treat people.

In fact, maybe it would be better to scrap the 'bit of a' part in front of 'bastard'. It would certainly be closer to the truth, even if it didn't sound too nice. But then again, Yugi tried to be nice to Kaiba all the time, and it wasn't as if the CEO seemed to like him any better for the effort.

Yugi ... Joey chuckled, remembering the frantic phone-call he had received from Yami the previous evening. It appeared Yugi had 'forgotten' to explain the special significance of the fourteenth of february to his yami, which had resulted in Yami not having a clue. Until he had met Bakura, that was, on a shopping-spree to make sure Ryou was never going to forget this year's Valentine.

Bakura being Bakura had of course immediately inquired about Yami's plans for Yugi, ready to criticize and ridicule them, only to find out that Yami had none. Which, in a way, was even better. The grand, wise Pharaoh being fully ignorant about such a widely known holiday, tsk, tsk.

It was fortunate there had still been a mall to shop in after the ensuing argument. And even more fortunate that Yugi had just happened to walk by and asked what the yamis were fighting about, so that Bakura could make vague hints and smirk, while Yami evaded the question and tried to distract Yugi from pursuing the matter further, for fear of ruining the surprise.

Yugi and Ryou were lucky, Joey mused. At least they knew they were loved back. Bakura might not be the easiest person in the world to live with, but judging by the blissful expression on Ryou's face whenever he spoke about his yami, he definitely cared about Ryou. Even if he showed so little of it in public.

"Joey! You're going to be late for school!" His father's voice interrupted Joey's musings, bringing his thoughts back to the present. Valentine's day. Grabbing the corrected speech, he read it one more time.

"Kaiba, you may be a bastard, but I still have this strange wish for you to kiss me. And since today's Valentine and we only live once, I was wondering if maybe you'd oblige me." His reflection stared back at him goofily, like an idiot. Ah well, he'd just hope for the best. Kaiba'd probably kill him regardless of his expression, simply for making the statement.

By the end of this day, he'd either have been kissed by the person he loved, or he'd be dead and never have to worry about Kaiba returning his feelings ever again. A win-win situation, in other words.

*****

[meanwhile, elsewhere]

"Joey Wheeler, you are a mutt and a lousy duelist but I am deeply in love with you. I would like you to consider my invitation to have dinner with me tonight, so that we may get to know each other a little better and ... This is utter nonsense." Seto glared at Mokuba, who shrugged.

"You might put a little more enthusiasm in it," Mokuba suggested.

"That's not the problem," Seto shook his head. "The problem is this stupid speech! How can you even *think* this would work? It's no use."

"Well, I admit that you might have written a better one, since you're the one in love and all," Mokuba snapped, slightly peeved, "but no, you had to complete your project last night."

"It's not that I'm not grateful for your effort to help me in this - " Seto began quickly, not wanting to start the day with an argument. 

"All right, then," Mokuba grinned. "Try it once more, with feeling this time. Oh, and you got the first part of it wrong. My text said 'Joey Wheeler, you are a handsome guy and a pretty good duelist' not what you made of it."

"But he's *not* a good duelist! He - " Seto protested, cut off by an impatient gesture from Mokuba.

"He got in the finals of two big tournaments, so he's not that bad. Plus, it'll warm him up to you if you flatter him a bit. Consider it a little white lie for the greater good." Mokuba smirked. "Does this mean you *do* agree that he's handsome?"

"No. The 'pretty good duelist'-part just irked me more," Seto grumbled.

"Suuuuure." Mokuba rolled his eyes. "I so believe that, big brother."

"I don't have time for this." Seto stared pointedly at the clock. Mokuba was unimpressed.

"Valentine's only once a year, so you have to grab this opportunity and make the best of it."

*****

Yugi looked slightly panicked, Joey noted as he walked in the classroom, not late for once. Yami was nowhere in sight, as usual at school. After being explained the benefits and the drawbacks of school in the present day, both Yami and Bakura had quickly declared the knowledge they had acquired from their hikaris was enough for their needs.

That Ryou was missing as well *was* unusual, since the quiet, soft-spoken boy was usually one of the first ones to arrive. Perhaps Bakura's Valentine-celebration had something to do with it. Maybe he ought to give Ryou a call later, just to ask if everything was all right.

"Have you seen Kaiba this morning?" Joey inquired, putting his mind back to his own plans for Valentine.

"He arrived pretty early, with a scowl on his face that was even worse than his usual one," Anzu supplied, sourly holding a big teddy-bear in her arms. Joey wondered whose it was.

Yugi smiled. "Maybe he just didn't sleep very well, because he's nervous."

"Kaiba being nervous?" Joey chuckled, shaking his head incredulously. "That's hard to imagine."

"Perhaps because you simply have no imagination to mention, mutt," Kaiba sneered, brushing past without looking at either him or Yugi and Anzu.

"Speaking of the devil ... " Anzu murmured.

"Well, at least you know where he is now," Yugi remarked.

~to be concluded in the second part?~


	2. Ending

Valentine declarations

**

Warnings/notes : Seto/Joey, slightly weird, slight fluff, slight hints at Yami/Yugi and Bakura/Ryou.

Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. 

written at 4th december 2003, by Misura

A very big 'thank you!' to all the people who reviewed the first part of this. I hope you'll all enjoy this second part as well! ^_^

* * *

The hours seemed to crawl past, until finally the bell rang that announced the schoolday to be over. Perversely enough, time flew from that moment on, causing Joey to completely lose track of Kaiba while everyone rushed for the exit. Kaiba was pretty quick to vanish on a normal day already, so on a day when about a quarter of the female students were out to get a date with him, it made sense that he'd be even faster.

Joey sighed, wondering if he'd have the courage to follow Kaiba to his mansion. It was a long way to walk, and there'd probably be all kinds of security he'd have to pass. Which meant that he'd have to explain why he wanted to see Kaiba. Which wasn't something he felt comfortable entrusting to the man himself, let alone some total stranger.

Ah well, there'd be other days. Next year was soon enough to make a fool of himself in front of Kaiba. Perhaps it was even better to wait, to see if maybe his silly crush would go away of its own. Twelve months of being insulted and adressed as 'mutt' should go a long way to that, shouldn't they? No sane person would want to be kissed by someone who treated him like dirt.

"Uhm, Joey, could you lend me a hand?" Anzu's voice sounded slightly muffled. When he turned around, he saw why.

"Either someone likes you a lot, or a lot of people like you," he chuckled, picking up a small, white teddy-bear holding a heart with 'I love you' on it and placing it back in Anzu's bulging backpack.

"It's not funny," Anzu huffed, sounding uncharacteristically snappy. "In fact, I think it's rather silly. If you realy love someone, why would you only tell them so on Valentine's day? Why not sooner? And why would you have to buy them some over-priced plushie to let them know you care? It's not like I'm going to do anything with it."

"Aww, come on, Anzu. It's cute!" Joey grinned. "Or are you just put off because the person you *wanted* to give you one of those 'over-priced plushies' didn't show up?"

"It's nothing like that at all," Anzu replied a bit mollified. "And as long as you're too scared to confess your feelings to Kaiba, I'd appreciate it if you kept your nose out of my love-life."

"I'm not scared," Joey defended himself. "I'm simply not overly eager to get myself killed. And why would you want to keep *your* crush a secret, while everyone knows mine?"

"We only know yours because you're so obvious about it," Anzu pointed out, walking down the corridor that led to the lockers. "I just like to get a bit more used to our relationship before having you and the others getting all over us, like you did with poor Ryou."

"Hey, it wasn't *my* fault Bakura got all paranoid about Yami getting within ten feet of him!" Joey protested, wincing at the memory. They had intended to throw Ryou a surprise-party for his birthday, only it had ended in Yami nearly Mind-Crushing Bakura, who in turn had threatened to send Yugi to the Shadow Realm if Yami didn't move away from Ryou.

"True," Anzu admitted. "But I still think I'm entitled to keep my Valentine a secret." Her eyes sparkled at the word 'Valentine', as if she had just made some sort of joke.

"Fine. I hope the two of you have fun," Joey grumbled, more because he was somewhat annoyed with himself for having missed Kaiba (and thus his slim chance at spending this Valentine with the person he loved) than because he begrudged Anzu her secret.

"Thank you. Kaiba's locker is over there, by the way." She made a gesture to indicate the corridor around the corner. "You might as well go talk to him and get it over with. It *is* Valentine's Day after all." She winked.

"I'm sure he's gone home already." Joey shook his head.

"No harm in taking a look, is there?" Anzu inquired innocently. In fact, the expression on her face seemed a little bit too innocent. Like she knew something he didn't.

"I guess not," Joey admitted, deciding he might as well play along. This *was* Anzu after all ; she knew him too well to try match-making him with some girl (like Honda and Otogi had last year, in an attempt to 'cure' him from his obsession with Kaiba) and pranking wasn't her style. Not about this anyway. He slowly began to walk down the hall, uncertain of what to expect.

"Enjoy your weekend then, Joey. I'll see you again Monday!" When he turned around, Anzu was gone.

"Probably eager to get to her date. Lucky guy," Joey murmured.

* * *

"Awww, doesn't the puppy have anyone to walk him home?" Seto asked, without even turning his head. He didn't need to ; there were only two persons who'd voluntarily walk up to him for a talk and Yugi had raced off at top-speed at the ring of the bell. Apparently his little rival had someone waiting for him at home.

"Kaiba. I need to tell you something." Joey sounded unusually serious. Seto shrugged, crumpling the paper with Mokuba's silly speech on it to a ball, before Joey could see its contents.

"What might that be?" Had Mokuba told him? Seto wouldn't put it past the little menace.

"You ... you're a bastard ... " Joey was blushing, red like a tomato, though Seto couldn't think of a single reason why. The insult wasn't *that* unusual after all. Turning his head to hide a flash of disappointment, he picked up the paper ball, tossing it into a nearby trashcan.

"Not very original, is it, puppy? Now, be a good dog and go play somewhere else. I have a corporation to run," Seto scoffed, cursing his foolishness in believing that girl Mazaki, who obviously didn't know anything. The weight of his laptop in his hand was reassuring somehow, an anchor to hold on to. He even managed not to look back as he strode away, his back straight and his head raised high.

"Iwantyoutokissme," Joey squeaked from behind him. Seto blinked, sure he had misheard, but intrigued enough to stop and gaze questioningly at the blonde.

"Excuse me?" Seto wished he could summon a sneer, but he was too surprised to manage one. Or perhaps he simply didn't want to sneer at what had sounded like a declaration of love.

"I. Want. You. To. Kiss. Me." Joey repeated slowly, starting to look angry again.

"I thought you considered me a bastard? Hardly the kind of person you'd want to be kissed by, I'd say," Seto stated, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, it's not as if I asked to fall in love with you!" Joey snapped. "That just happened!"

"And, obviously, you find it most annoying," Seto mused aloud. "All those bothersome dreams, not knowing if your feelings are returned, being unable to think of anyone else ... "

"Being in love sucks!" Joey nodded. "Especially with someone like you."

"The feeling is mutual, I assure you," Seto grinned. Joey kept on nodding for a few more seconds, before the meaning of that reply had fully sunk in.

"You ... " Joey sputtered.

"I ... " Seto mockingly echoed, before continuing "... am your master. And if I'd order you to be an obedient puppy and have dinner with me tonight, you'd have no choice but to obey me."

"Is that like, an invitation?" Joey inquired, his expression slightly confused.

"No," Seto rolled his eyes. "I'm simply telling you you'll go out with me tonight." Not waiting for Joey to ask more stupid, irrelevant questions, he continued on his way to the exit, gesturing for Joey to follow. The blonde did so without a second thought, only realizing it by the time they were halfway down the corridor.

"You really are an arrogant bastard." 

"Be nice if you want your good-night kiss."

~OWARI~


End file.
